Opinion

Aurora community comes together to heal in the right way

Thousands gather for a prayer vigil for the victims of the mass shooting at an Aurora movie theater at the Aurora Municipal Center on Sunday. (AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post)

Family members of Micayla Medek, one of the Aurora theater shooting victims, comfort one another at the community vigil Sunday at the Aurora Municipal Center. A crowd of thousands paid their respects at the vigil, some carrying homemade signs decorated with prayers and inspirational messages. (Aaron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post)

Healing comes to a community following a mass-casualty tragedy in small ways. Shared casseroles. Donated blood. Hand-holding at vigils. Prayer services. Strangers smiling at strangers.

After the collective experience of shock and horror, there has to be rebonding," said Dr. Deborah Serani, a Long Island-based psychologist and author with an expertise in depression and trauma. "We heal in community. We heal together."

Serani, other mental health experts and some of those who have lived through tragedies like the mass shooting in an Aurora movie theater early Friday morning, say the Aurora community is doing the right things to collectively began to heal from such a wrenching experience.

"Part of healing is what happened yesterday, said Dr. Harry Croft, a San Antonio psychiatrist and medical director for the psychiatric website healthyplace.com.

Croft was speaking of the vigil that brought thousands out Sunday to remember the victims and grieve together.

"People are shocked, grief-stricken and in disbelief. They are grieving not only for the tragedy that happened to 70 victims and their families but also for the community itself," Croft said.

Croft said the support people in Aurora are giving to each other — whether it be in a donated meal or a chance to pray together — is a critical component of moving past the tragedy.

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So is focusing on the heroism displayed by some in the theater, by the first responders and by those who dismantled incendiary devices in suspect James Eagan Holmes' apartment.

"That reminds us of the best in humanity," Croft said

One thing that is not productive at this stage, he said, includes getting stuck on the question, 'Why?'"

Croft said it's probably too early to answer that.

The City of Littleton knows that well.

A woman and her daughter leave flowers and American flags at a makeshift memorial for Friday's victims at Aurora Municipal Center on Sunday. (Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post)

Since two students went on a shooting rampage through Columbine High School in nearby unincorporated Jefferson County 13 years ago, there have never been clear answers about what triggered their murderous rage.

Littleton spokesperson Kelli Narde said in retrospect, a very important element of healing was the coming together for vigils and remembrances.

"People need that chance to come together and to mourn together," said Narde, who also has been hit hard by the Aurora shootings because she grew up and worked in Aurora before moving to Littleton.

People dealing with a tragedy also need symbols," she said.

In Littleton that meant collecting the thousands of floral bouquets left at the scene, drying them in a fire station hose dryer and giving some to graduates in tiny cloth bags.

The city's museum also cleaned and saved many of the 600 other items left at the scene. Those items are now on display and archived in the Littleton Museum.

Narde pointed out that a community often finds ways to improve itself after such a tragedy. In Littleton that meant instituting a wide array of violence-prevention programs that span pre-natal care to suicide education.

One ray of hope for Aurora and a measure of proof that a community can come back stronger from a tragedy: Bloomberg Businessweek last year named Littleton "The Best Place to Raise Kids in Colorado."

Travis Hirko kneels at Alex Sullivan's cross at a memorial for the victims of the Aurora shooting at the intersection of South Sable Boulevard and East Centrepoint Drive on Sunday. The markers were built by a man who did something similar for the Columbine victims. (Photos by AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post)

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